Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 April 2014
Proffitt, Stefanucci, Banton, and Epstein (2003) reported a set of studies showing that the perceived distance to a target is influenced by the effort required to walk to its location. Hutchison and Loomis (H&L) reported an experiment that failed to find a significant influence of effort on indices of apparent distance. There were numerous important differences between the design and methods of H&L's study and those of Proffitt et al. Moreover, there are important theoretical reasons to believe that these differences were responsible for the different results. The theoretical motivation of H&L's studies was also brought into question.
Proffit, Stefanucci, Banton y Epstein (2003) proporcionan un conjunto de trabajos en los que se muestra que la distancia a la que se percibe un estímulo-objetivo depende del esfuerzo requerido para caminar hasta él. Hutchison y Loomis (H&L) presentan un experimento en el que el esfuerzo no produjo efectos significativos en los índices de distancia aparente. Existen numerosas e importantes diferencias entre el diseño y los métodos del estudio de H & L y los de Proffit et al. Más aún, existen importantes razones teóricas para pensar que tales diferencias causaron las diferencias observadas en los resultados. Se cuestiona la motivación teórica de los estudios de H&L.